David Bowie: I'm Not Too Sure of the Words

Iman's post from her Harper's Baazar interview on Instagram

Yesterday Iman posted this wonderful article from her interview in Harper's Baazar on Instagram.  By far the best part was the last portion of the essay, where Iman mentions her late, great husband (The David Bowie).  She writes about preparing her speech for accepting the CFDA's 2010 Fashion Icon Award:

I then wrote my speech and ran it by my husband [the late David Bowie].  He made sure that I rehearsed.  He said, "I don't want you looking at teleprompters.  It's your speech; you should know it."  I was like, "God, don't make it so difficult." 

Only a performer like him would know something like this, because when the dress arrived he told me to try it on with the heels and say my speech.  And  I forgot half of it.  He said, "That's why dress rehearsal is done.  You put on the clothes, you stand there, and you will feel it."  Thank God I had him to walk me through that.

I loved imagining the always fabulous, confident Iman stumbling over her words, and Bowie (the iconic musician and stubborn perfectionist) coaching her every step of the way.  But what struck me the most is how hilariously he didn't follow his own advice.

Granted, as a younger man you can see that he completely embodies a character whenever he performs - whether as someone like Ziggy Stardust and Halloween Jack or as the ultimate character of BOWIE himself.  In all of his performances from the 1980 Floor Show to the Diamond Dogs/Soul Tour and Glass Spider Tour, to on stage with Cher or on the Dick Cavett Show to his amazing music videos like those for "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes", Bowie is the consummate performer.

However, after the 1980s Bowie jokingly refers multiple times to how he needed a book with him to remember his lyrics.  During his interview with Jonathan Ross in 2003, Bowie jokingly responded to Ross, who had asked if he had learned the words to the new songs yet, with the remark:

I've got a big book over there with the words in it.  Well, the amazing thing is - it's an incredible thing - if I don't have the book with me, I will definitely forget the words.  If I've got the book out there - as long as it's turned at the right page, I'll remember the words to the song that I'm doing.  It's really odd.

Granted, his career spanned over fifty years - it would be hard for anyone to recount every single song (Bowie has easily written over 1000 compositions throughout his career).  However, his repeated use of this lyrical cheatsheet even extends to well-known hits like "Let's Dance" (as evidenced by this Instagram interview).

Additional jokes about his musical repertoire can be seen on his 2002 A&E special and during his performance at the Bridge School Benefit in 1996.  And even before "The Book" you can see evidence of Bowie forgetting his own lyrics from his performance on the BBC in 1971 when he nervously introduces his performance of "Kooks" around the 2:34 mark of "Almost Grown" before bleeding into a different version of "Kooks" than what's on the album.  He says, "It's called Kooks - K-double O-K-S.  I'm not too sure of the words cause it is new..."  Not to mention other live performances of his where he will mix up small words or phrases (or even re-arrange whole stanzas).

So, in short, although Bowie may have been one of the best performers to ever grace the stage and one of the best writers to ever live, I chuckle every time I think about the fact that he forgets his own lyrics.  It just goes to show that even the best of us need to rehearse - and even then sometimes we get it wrong.